First simulation

Bring up the BlueBoat with the full ROS stack (Gazebo server, ros_gz bridge, robot_state_publisher and the Gazebo GUI):

ros2 launch blueboat_gazebo sim.launch.xml

The simulation starts running, with the camera a few meters off the boat’s port quarter. The boat is spawned at its static waterline and floats there: two hulls, the two outboard propellers, the flag and the Ping2 echosounder fitted under the starboard hull. That is the default configuration; no configuration was involved.

In a second terminal (also sourced), watch the echosounder and spin the propellers:

ros2 topic echo /blueboat/ping/range --once
ros2 topic pub /blueboat/motor_port/cmd std_msgs/msg/Float64 "data: 0.2" -1 &
ros2 topic pub /blueboat/motor_stbd/cmd std_msgs/msg/Float64 "data: 0.2" -1 &
wait

The BlueROV2 equivalent is ros2 launch bluerov2_gazebo sim.launch.xml, which spawns the ROV hovering near the surface of its pool.

Next: drive it, then change what is fitted. Each vehicle’s Running page (BlueBoat, BlueROV2) covers worlds, custom configs and RViz.